Tongs



(No Model.)

' W. H. EVANS.

TONGS. 7 No. 342,827. Patented June 1, 1886.

UNITE STATES ATENT -rricn.

WVILLIAM H. EVANS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TONGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,827, dated June 1, 1886.

Application filed September 30, 1885. Serial No. 178,661.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. Evans, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tongs, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to tongs more especially designed for use in depositing in and removing articles from displaywindows of stores and in and from other places which are inconvenient of access by the hands alone.

This improved tongs is composed of two jaws, which are carried by a handle ofsuffi-v cient and convenient length, one jaw made rigid and immovable on the said handle, and the other jaw hinged thereto and arranged to be closed upon said fixed jaw against a spring by a mechanism connected to it and running to a convenient part of the handle, for operation by the hand and to be opened by the reac tion of said spring, all substantially as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying plate of drawings the improved tongs is illustrated, Figure 1 being a central section through the tongs from end to end, with the moving jaw opened from the other and otherwiseshowing the parts in their position before being operated to close the moving jaw. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the nu der side of thetongs; and Fig. 3isa transverse vertical section on line 3 3, Fig. 1.

In the drawings, A is the stick or handle, made of any suitable length for its intended use. This handle at one end carries twojaws, B and C. The lowerjaw, B, is made rigid and immovable on the handle or stick A, and it is very desirable and practical to make it in one and the same piece therewith. The upper-jaw, G, at its inner end is hinged at a to the handle at its junction with the lower jaw, and it is arranged to swing on said hinge toward and against the lower and rigid jaw,B, and this movement of the hingedjaw Otoward said jaw B is against a spiral spring, H, disposed between a shoulder, d, of said jaw C and a shoulder, f, of the handle A. The moving jaw O is provided on its under side and at its inner end with an eye, 9, to which is connected, by a link, Z, a wire, rod, cord, or other suitable connection, it, running in line with the stick or handle A to or near its handle end k, and there it is provided with asliding finger-piece, D.

Grasping the tongs in the hand and drawing the finger-piece D outwardly through the connection described with the jaws 0, draws or swings the said jaw U to and against the rigid jaw B. and thereby the article is gripped between said jaws, all as is plain, and when the force exerted on the finger-piece is released the said jaw O, by the reaction of the spring I), is made to resume its position away from the jaw B, and as shown in Fig. 1.

The spring b,instead of being aspiral spring, as shown, may be a plate or bent spring, and it may be disposed between the jaws B G, instead of between the jaw C and the handle A; and, again, the links Z may be dispensed with and the rod or wire hconnected directly with thejaw O.

Thejaws B O at their grippingsurface are either or both provided with a thickness, m, of india-rubber or gutta-percha, or othersuitable material, whereby increased frictional contact will be secured, increasing the grip or hold upon the articles without necessarily in creasing the pressure of the jaws thereon.

-Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat-' 

